[BLOG] Review: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

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Shaderrow
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[BLOG] Review: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

Postby Shaderrow » Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:28 pm

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Developers: Techland

Publishers: Ubisoft

Platforms: Xbox 360, PC, PS3 (Reviewed on PS3)

The Call of Juarez series is one that I've always wanted to enjoy, but it's proved a challenge to do so. Bound in Blood was a decent shooter, but it didn't set my world on fire. The Cartel had some good ideas, but ended up abysmally. So can this $15 downloadable title, returning the original Wild West setting save the franchise?

Yes, yes it can.

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Gunslinger is a downloadable title with a modest asking price, and while it may be a short experience at just a handful of hours, it packs more entertainment, great level design and just pure fun into its package than all the other Call of Juarez games combined. Players take on the role of Silas Greaves,a lone gunslinger regaling an audience with a tale of revenge, bounty hunting, and old fashioned Wild West justice.

Gunslinger borrows elements from many other games and uses them all to good effect.  The entire game's story is told with Silas narrating as you play. The closest thing like it is the narration you see in Bastion and A Bard's Tale. But Gunslinger uses this to a much greater effect than the aforementioned titles. Silas has a crowd around him in the saloon where he is reciting his tale and the game will often take you through multiple perspectives on the same situation as the crowd corrects Silas and vice versa . Silas argues, boasts and invents lavish scenarios that are very true  to form of the old west. Gunslinger uses this one concept to deliver some genuinely original and clever ideas to it's narrative and also manages to up the gameplay in some unexpected ways.

The story is actually worth a damn for once and boasts some very good writing. Each chapter tells a small individual story while also adding to the overall narrative and genuinely satisfying ending. Western fans will find a lot of stuff to love here, from facing down some legendary gunslingers like Jesse James and Butch Cassidy to hunting down the Nuggets of Truth scattered around each level which fleshes out some interesting facts about events, people and places of the Old West.

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Gameplay is fast, direct and just copious amounts of fun. The game feels fresh and new yet maintaining some semblance of it's original identity. The focus meter from the previous games makes a return. when you activate this enemies are highlighted in the environment and slowed to a crawl, enabling you to take out multiple targets in the blink of an eye. New to the series is the "Sense of Death" meter which is restored with time and vital to your survival. When full this allows Silas to dodge a fatal shot with the player swerving to avoid it by way of simply tilting the analogue stick.

The closest thing Gunslinger warrants comparison to is Bulltestorm, and with good reason. There is an extreme presence of the arcade in this game with every kill netting you points with more being rewarded by pulling off lavish shots and lengthy combos. These points also serve as XP in the leveling system as well as putting you on the online leader boards. Every time you level up you get one skill point which can be spent in one of the three skill trees: Gunslinger, Ranger and Trapper.

The Gunslinger tree is all about being dual wielding six-shooter desperado and  and using concentration to get off as many shots as possible to take on large groups of enemies. Ranger makes you a long distance sharpshooter, using the rifle to pull head-shot after head-shot and building up the combo meter with abilities honing your accuracy and damage. The Trapper tree focuses on close quarters combat, enabling you to survive more shots while also supplementing the damage that you shotgun and dynamite delivers,

All of the skill trees complement each other, so pouring everything down one path early on is a bad idea. For instance the Executioner skill (which enables you to automatically pull of head-shots at the cost of a lot of concentration) becomes invaluable when using dual wield six shooters, but without the long range abilities of Ranger tree it's potency is severely diminished.

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 There are three difficulty levels to choose from, the always standard Normal and Hard,but True West is where the real fun lies. It removes the cross air and all other elements from the heads-up display, while also severely boosting the damage and tactics that the AI has at it's disposal. New Game Plus has also been thrown in for good measure, and allows you to retains all the previously unlocked abilities and weapons for use in a new playthrough, meaning that Gunslinger really does warrant more than one playthrough.

Boss Fights are also present and come in the form of good, old fashioned duels. Every enemy is introduced beforehand with a montage of art personal history, making it clear that your facing down a man to be reckoned with.The duelling system is simple and merely requires that you keep the cross-air focused on the target and your hand near your holster. Doing so will ensure that you draw fast enough and shoot accurately enough to live and tell the tale.

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Aside from the story mode there is an arcade mode in which you take control of one of three characters each of whom is focused in one of the aformentioned skill trees. Each level is a small section of the campaign wherein you try and kill as many foes as fast as possible. Played in the right way these levels can be run through in such a way that the combo meter never stops ticking, and can end with you grabbing a massive score and fame on the leaderboards. While not revolutionary it is a very nice game mode to be included.

In the end Gunslinger's action is remarkably tight and polished to a shine. Every gun feels great to use, each of them powerful in the right situation, but weak in the wrong. Enemies pour out with alarming regularity, and each shootout is intense, with the kill feedback system providing a ton of encouragement to keep the lead flying.

The game looks and sounds terrific with the new illustrated art style being joy to behold/ Whether on consoles or a PC there are some moments wherein Gunslinger really does impress. It puts it's predecessors to shame with bold character design, colorful environments and a great level design. The voice acting is great throughout with John Cygan delivering quite a performance as Silas Greaves.

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My criticisms regarding this game are quite petty, because apart from some lengthy load times I really didn't find anything worthy of complaint.

The game touts a remarkable level of polish, something which Techland is not exactly known for. It's biggest game, Dead Island is a notoriously ugly and glitch filled mess. Buyt fortunately Gunslinger is quite the opposite as it plays smooth and looks great.

Gunslinger is in the end a really good, reasonably priced game that takes ideas we've seen before and uses them to great effect with a little of it's own flavor added to each. I came away satisfied and thoroughly impressed with it. This is a game worthy of you time for not only is this by far the best Call of Juarez game, it's a damn solid and well put together shooter in it's own right.

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Corvinus89
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Re: [BLOG] Review: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

Postby Corvinus89 » Sun Jun 02, 2013 3:39 pm

Good review, will get the game on pc. If its like Bulletstorm you can count me in.
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